Last Monday night GoINDEEpMusic was out at the Comerica Theatre in Downtown Phoenix. I took my act on the road to see my beloved Pixies for the tenth time since the band reunited in 2004, and eleventh overall. I’m not sure if that’s something I should be proud of, or embarrassed.
The band whipped through a 31-song set that lasted the better part of an hour and 45 minutes. The set featured seven of the eight new songs that have surfaced recently on EP-1 and EP-2. In addition, they played the single “Bagboy,” along with a new song “Silver Snail,” that has yet to see an official release. Many of the tunes that fans have grown accustomed to hearing at Pixies shows over the last ten years were present, however there were many glaring omissions. Moving forward, get used it, this is what it’s going to sound like, thankfully I dig most of the new stuff.
New bassist Paz delivered a solid performance, even if she needed a laminated cheat sheet. Ms. Lenchantin’s behavior seemed right in line with what’s expected of a Pixies bassist, at no time did she act in a way that was unbecoming of a Pixies bassist. I didn’t spend as much time analyzing Paz as I would’ve liked, that’s because I kept staring at David Lovering’s beard. When they first took the stage I said to myself, why did the roadie take the stage with them? Man, It took me a second to even recognize him, but then I realized… they just played Portland.
Some of the highlights included an impressive performance of “Vamos” by Joey that closed the set, which also seemed to impress Charles Michael Kittridge Thompson IV. There was a pretend encore that included a silent Walton’s style good-night, before closing the night with “Planet Of Sound.” Furthermore, there was a bizarre group of four songs, IMO, that went like this: Ana – Velouria – Havalina – Magdalena, early on in the set, weird.
The festivities got started at Pallets for a some Vietnamese food, giggles, and insults, before heading down to the show to check out Bethany Cosentino and her outfit Best Coast. Ms. Cosentino and company were on top of their game, and ripped through a solid 13-song set of all “the hits.”
I feel bad for fans that missed the Pixies when they were playing 30-plus song sets of nothing but the classic tunes; what am I saying I don’t feel bad at all, they had over ten years catch one of the countless shows in every major city multiple times. After more than 350 shows and ticket sales that exceed 65 million dollars since 2004, the band claims its no longer about the money. Guess what? When they says it’s not about the money… it’s about money.
GoINDEEpMusic
Photography by Present-Tense:
